Chianello: Hudak picks and chooses from the Drummond report

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak makes an announcement at a packaging plant about creating 40,000 jobs in Ontario with affordable energy during a campaign stop in Smithville, Ont., on Monday, May 12, 2014.

Photograph by: Nathan Denette
, Ottawa Citizen

On the hustings Thursday, Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak yet again conjured up the image of Don Drummond — venerated economist, public policy big thinker and, now it seems, all-purpose justification for any government cuts you might want to make.

“We’re following the Drummond Commission recommendations,” Hudak told reporters in London, Ont. “I’ve been very direct and honest with taxpayers.”

Well, yes and no.

Of all the provincial parties’ platform, it’s true that the Conservatives’ is the one closest in spirit to the so-called Drummond report — the massive document that was the result of Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services. After all, the 2012 report warned Ontarians that they must “come to grips with the fiscal challenges that lie ahead” and that the province must “act soon to put its finances on a sustainable path and must be prepared for tough action.”

That sounds a lot like Hudak’s rhetoric this week, as he sells his cost-cutting platform aimed at, among other things, getting the budget balanced a year ahead of the Liberals.

But it’s disingenuous of the Tories to suggest they are implementing the Drummond plan. What they’re doing is picking and choosing the bits they like best. The one about chopping 9,700 “non-teaching positions,” including educational assistants? That’s in the PC plan, as “per Drummond.” (Apparently referencing “Drummond” is supposed to make us unquestioningly accept virtually any cost-cutting measure.)

On the other hand, Hudak simply ignored Drummond’s specific warning not to freeze wages. In fact, the PCs pledge to do just that. Wage freezes are the single biggest line-item savings the party is predicting — $2.15 billion by 2015.

And in vowing to slash 100,000 public-sector jobs, Hudak obviously isn’t adhering to Drummond’s advice to “avoid setting targets for the size of the civil service.”

It’s not that Drummond doesn’t believe in shrinking the number of provincial workers. But for the economist (who’s declining interviews during the election), cuts aren’t the starting point — they’re the natural result of a leaner, re-thought government. And that’s the thing about the Drummond report: it’s a 500-plus page thesis advocating a whole-scale reform of government. It’s heady, complex stuff — not a buffet of cost-cutting options from which a political party can choose to suit its agenda of the day.

Take the 30 per cent tuition grant. The PCs will cut it just like Drummond, they say. While the Drummond report does call for scrapping that grant, it also calls for targeting “more of the assistance to low-income students whose access is most likely to be compromised by financial obstacles.” But there’s no mention of helping poorer students in Hudak’s plan.

Now, you have to give the Tories credit for being upfront about the painful measures they’ll take if elected. That’s more than most political parties would do. But they haven’t been completely honest about exactly what services may be diminished, exactly which jobs will be cut.

Consider that one of their line items in their budget plan is a $700 million savings by 2017. Where does that come from? If you read the fine print, you’ll see it’s based on “over 50 Drummond recommendations pertaining to service delivery and program management.” Well, which 50?

Maybe Hudak can’t say exactly what will be cut because he doesn’t know.

Hudak evaded a Toronto Star question Thursday about whether a Tory government would cut TV Ontario. PC officials later told the Star that it was too soon to say specifically what would have to be cut in the first term.

Those lack of details play right into the hands of Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne. On Thursday, Wynne was in Walkerton, the site of Canada’s worst E. coli water contamination that killed seven people and sickened 2,300. While being careful to say that no leader would ever consciously risk anyone’s safety, “it is equally important to recognize that decisions have consequences,” even if they are unintended.

Hudak responded that he has no plans for cuts to Walkerton’s water treatment facility. And fair enough. But if he doesn’t want the spectre of what might be cut under his bold plan to continue haunting him over the next four weeks, then he needs to lay out the details more clearly. And falling back on the “we’re following the Drummond Commission recommendations” just won’t cut it.

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